Fear Itself: The Serpent & The Worthy

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Matt Fraction and Tom Brevoort discuss the gathering of villains that threatens the Marvel Universe in Fear Itself.

By Jesse Schedeen

Marvel fans don't have much longer to wait before Fear Itself officially kicks off. Ed Brubaker's prologue issue Fear Itself: Book of the Skull hits stores next week, with Fear Itself #1 due on April 6th. Marvel held a conference call today so that writer Matt Fraction and editor Tom Brevoort could discuss the big event leading into these releases. Naturally, we were there to see what the duo had to say.

Fraction opened the talk by discussing how Fear Itself originally came to be and how it evolved from a simple Captain America and Thor crossover into something more. "The book came about from Tom calling Ed Brubaker and myself a little more than a year ago and pointing out that there's a Thor movie coming in May and a Captain America movie coming in July. Did we have a fun little Cap/Thor mini-series we could do together to take advantage of that? It started with that very innocent query and became this beast that will not die. At its root it's a Cap and a Thor story."

Fear Itself #1 Cover (click to enlarge)

Fraction continued, "It's been about two years for us since we thought about doing an event like this. As we're getting back to it now, we wanted to really get into it and do a big, epic story that matters with lots of implications and ramifications. It kind of does what I think we do best."

Fraction described the nature of the conflict in Fear Itself as "The Red Skull discovers Odin might not be the all-father and frees this ancient Norse deity from the prison where he's been held for eons. The two of them set about waging war on the world. She transforms into a deity herself, and she and the boss feed on fear and terror and horror. That's what makes them strong rather than awe or wonder. So you've got Thor's worst nightmare in discovering that the thing he holds above all else, his godhood, is in question and being forced to choose between standing with gods and standing with man. That's coming true at the same time Captain America's worst fear is coming true in seeing a Red Skull more powerful than she or her father imagined possible, wanting nothing more than to terrify people, running amok over the face of the earth."

Many of Marvel's recent teasers have featured a group of characters called The Worthy - familiar Marvel heroes and villains who are chosen by The Serpent and granted mystical hammers (Fraction was clear that the lineup included both heroes and villains). Each hammer is analogous to the power of Mjolnir. "When you see the final lineup and see them standing side by side, you would yourself feel confident that this was the army to go to war with. If you want to conquer a world and kill a race of gods, these are the people you want by your side. All of them are ferocious world-breakers, and some part of them is able to be seduced by what it mean to be one of the Worthy."

Brevoort elaborated that all "have the potential for great destruction and the potential to spread the Serpent's doctrine of fear across the globe." Six of the seven Worthy will be revealed by the end of issue #2. However, the final reveal is coming later in issue #3 and is promised to be "the shocker." Fraction and Brevoort confirmed that Red Skull herself will serve as one of the eight soldiers in the Serpent's army.

The question of accessibility was brought up regarding Fear Itself. Readers needn't worry about having to follow multiple books to get the full story. "We've been ripped off as readers by these things time and time again and been made obliged to read things we don't want to read and be penalized for not being able to afford to read every book in the line." Fraction wants Fear Itself, "to be as clean and accessible as possible. If you are reading just Fear Itself #1-7, you're getting a beginning, a middle, and a very big ending."

Fear Itself #2 Cover (click to enlarge)

Fear Itself was then compared to Civil War in how each issue offers a major set-piece or plot twist. "I was working in retail when Kingdom Come came out. The wait between those issues as you tried to speculate and figure out what would happen next was complete agony. It's designed to be that kind of thing where hopefully you'll be as excited about issue #3 as you were about issue #1." Fraction continued, "When it's all finished, you'll be surprised that one dude is getting away with all this. It's such a big story. There's such a high price and so many set pieces. It's the sort of story superhero comics do best."

Drawing another comparison to Civil War, Brevoort remarked how Fear Itself operates on two storytelling levels. "Civil War was, in a very mainstream-friendly way, a story about 'will you barter away your freedoms for more security?' On the more primal, eight-year-old level, it was about all the Marvel superheroes fighting with each other because thy didn't agree with something."

He continued, "In the same sort of way, Fear Itself is talking about the state of the world today - the fact that we live in a time where there are all sorts of forces around us that we hear about in the media and experience for ourselves and that are designed to create fear and turmoil in our lives and our world. Economically, that threat level, and the fact that there are earthquakes and tsunamis ravaging our planet. That state of mind is very much the base point of Fear Itself. But on the other hand, it is a very huge, very connected-in Marvel story that goes to the fundamentals of what we thought we knew to be true about the Marvel Universe."

When Captain America is listed as one of the main players in Fear Itself, a logical question to ask is which Cap - Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes? Fraction hinted that both play a role, but said that, "whether it's Bucky or Steve, it's really about what Captain America means regardless of who is wearing the uniform. It has both. We get to see Bucky Cap rallying the forces of good against this relentless assault, and we then see what happens to Steve Rogers, who is the world's top cop and sort of on desk duty during this whole thing. We see him in the general role and how uncomfortable that is for him. More importantly, it's about the meaning of Captain America and what happens when Cap, regardless of who's wearing the uniform, says 'Avengers Assemble!' and no one follows him. What does it mean when Cap isn't the voice of reason and good and decency anymore?"

Turning to Iron Man and his role in the story, Fraction said, "He is, by definition, the empirical made real. In both the mini-series and his tie-in arc in Invincible Iron Man, he's forced to confront a miracle. A horrible, grisly, tragic miracle, but a miracle all the same. He's forced to deal with a catastrophe so unimaginable and so seemingly impossible that magic is the only way to describe it." Fraction also said cryptically, "It happens in Paris, and I'm very sorry."

Fear Itself Teaser (click to enlarge)

Fraction also confirmed there have been small hints to Fear Itself seeded in other books, particularly involving the number nine – nine members of the Serpent's army, nine steps in Invincible Iron Man, the nine worlds of Norse mythology, etc.

Finally, when asked whether Fear Itself would have a definitive ending or merely lead into another story, Fraction said, "You can have both. There's a definitive place where the story stops, but the ramifications of what the story means – you use the metaphor of a war. The war can end and the fighting stops, but what comes next? The world is changed as a result. We do well when we think big and think long, and when you put me and Brian and Ed and John and Jason in a room together we hatch lots of kooky thoughts. Where we're going from here has been set in Fear Itself. It's sort of the Marvel mothership right now. It'll establish the direction for the next year or two of where we're going. That said, you will not feel under-served if yo only read Fear Itself #1-7. The story runs its course and establishes the tone an tempo of what comes next."